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A lone crow plucked at the wires of a drone on top of the heap. It squawked at Tessa as she approached, flapping its wings to shake off the raindrops and hopping back a few steps before taking flight. She glanced at it for a moment before moving on, carefully navigating the muddy paths between the piles of discarded drones.
This is stupid, she thought. There was no real reason for her to be out here. She should have just gone back to the manor, but no, she just had to take a detour through the scrapyard. She shouldn't have even left the manor in the first place, but it had just been so loud and busy and she just couldn't stand to be in there any longer. At least it was quiet out here. At least no one was here to yell at her or tell her to behave and smile more in front of guests. The longer she could stay out of that house, the better. But at the same time, she couldn't be too late to arrive back, or her parents would ask where she'd been. God, her mother was gonna kill her if she got mud on her dress-
Tessa stopped in her tracks as she heard a quiet, almost unidentifiable sound from the other end of the path. It sounded almost like some sort of wounded animal’s whine. Tessa couldn't help but feel bad for it. She knew the scrapyard often had stray dogs wandering around. Maybe one of them had gotten hurt and needed her help? She changed her course to head towards the noise, ignoring the part of her that said she couldn’t afford to waste any more time on detours.
She rounded the corner and found the source of the noise. There was a stray there, sniffing around aimlessly at the base of the pile of drones. It seemed to be doing just fine though. There were no visible wounds, and though it was obviously underfed, it didn't seem like it was in danger of starving to death any time soon. It nudged something with its muzzle, focusing in on a specific spot.
All of a sudden, the dog latched onto one of the dead drones arms, tugging at it and growling like it was playing with a new toy. Tessa was just about ready to move on when the dog gave a sharp tug on the arm, only for the drone to let out a whine and try to pull its arm back. Tessa stood there for a moment, shocked. She knew about the existence of the so-called 'zombie drones', of course. She had learned about them in one of the JCJenson training videos that she had found in the basement, but she hadn't expected to actually find any in real life. They were supposed to be incredibly rare, weren't they? Even if a drone was disposed of improperly, they usually couldn't reactivate like this without outside interference. And even if that happened, most didn’t last more than five minutes because of their injuries or corruption in their code.
The dog began to get more aggressive with its pulling, thrashing its head around wildly like it was trying to tear the arm off its body. The drone cried out in pain, and tried to push the dog away, only for it to pull harder in retaliation. At the sound of the drone’s cry, Tessa jumped into action. She rushed over, shouting at the dog to back off and hoping that the noise would be enough to scare the stray off. Even if it looked scrawny, she really didn’t want to have to deal with trying to fend it off herself. Luckily for her, it wasn't particularly eager to get in a fight, and with one last tug on the drone, it let go and scampered away between the scrap heaps. Tessa stopped to watch it for a moment as it disappeared around the side of one of the piles. After a moment of watching to make sure it was really gone, she turned back to the spot where it had been just a second ago.
It only took her a moment to spot the glow of an active drone's visor. She crouched down to see the drone half-buried in the corpse pile. The poor thing was shivering, its eyes shut tightly and its body curled in on itself and cradling its arm. Its eyes were white instead of the normal light bluish grey colour that the workers in the manor were, and bright even through the thin layer of dirt and grime over its visor. Its arms were just as dirty as its face, with the addition of a few smaller oil stains that looked like little streaks coming from the joints in its segmented metal casing. After a few seconds, it seemed to realise that the threat was gone, and slowly opened one eye. The two locked eyes for a moment before the drone's eyes widened and it pulled itself back, recoiling from her as if it had been struck.
Tessa didn't really know what to do here. She had saved the drone. Maybe she should just... leave? It's not like anyone would care. She didn't need to even scare the dog away in the first place. She could've just left it there. She had already done more than she had to. She had already stayed out too long, she really did need to go back. And yet, she didn't stand up. She didn't walk away. Instead, she held her hand out. It didn't make a move, just let its gaze flicker down to her outstretched hand for a moment and then looked back up at her.
Right. Poor guy was probably terrified right now. She cleared her throat, to which the drone flinched a bit at the sudden noise, before she spoke.
"S'alright. I'm not gonna hurt ya." The drone relaxed slightly at the gentle tone in her voice, so she continued. "How 'bout we get ya outta there, eh? Looks pretty cramped to me."
The drone didn't move for a moment, seemingly considering her offer as it continued to stare into her eyes. Finally, it tentatively reached out towards her. Tessa leaned forwards to close the distance, grasping its hand firmly in her own. She gave an experimental tug, to which the drone winced and barely moved at all. "You're really wedged in there, huh?" she remarked, talking more to herself than the drone.
She was gonna need a different approach. This clearly wasn't working, and the last thing Tessa wanted was to hurt the poor thing any more than it had already been hurt. She let go of the drone's hand, and instead went to hook her arms under its own. She braced herself against the slippery ground as best she could, and pulled.
For a second, neither of them really moved. Maybe this wasn’t going to work as well as she had thought it would-
In the span of just about a second, whatever the drone was stuck on gave away. It only took a second more and the piercing sound of metal grating against metal for the drone to end up sprawled out on the ground just in front of her, now completely free of the weight of the other drone's bodies. Tessa paused to catch her breath. That had taken a surprising amount of effort for something that seemed so easy. After a moment, she turned to get a better look at the drone.
It- they seemed to be trying to prop themselves up to get their face out of the muddy ground, giving a quiet little huff as they did so. They were almost fully up when their already shaky limbs gave out on them, slipping on the slick ground. Tessa reached out quickly, catching them before they could hit the ground and pulling them into an upright sitting position. They slouched over, still shaking a bit, although they were much better than earlier. Tessa was pretty sure the look they gave her was one of gratitude, although she was much too distracted to really focus on it.
The drone’s limbs and head were thankfully almost completely intact, save for a few scratches and oilstains. The chest plate, however, was punctured straight through in several places, ripped open like a piece of fabric. Tessa could see right through to the wires. The gouges were jagged around the edges, sharp enough to easily cut the drones internal wiring with one wrong movement. Aside from that, there was a massive gash across their midsection. It wasn’t quite as rough as the wounds on their chest, probably due to the fact that it was right through the rubbery part of the drone’s torso, but it looked rushed, like whoever had made the gash had just hacked randomly at the thick rubber with a knife until the wound was wide enough for their satisfaction. Unlike the other wounds, it was still actively bleeding oil. The drone quickly covered their stomach with one arm, but not before she caught a glimpse of dark, oilstained wiring practically hanging out of the wound. They tightened their arm around their midsection, gripping their side hard enough that it seemed more like they were trying to hold their internal wiring in rather than keep the rain out.
Thankfully, the core casing still seemed to be intact from what Tessa could see of it, and the wires looked mostly fine. The injuries themselves seemed random and unprofessionally done. Some idiot had probably decided they could avoid having to pay for proper disassembly by doing it themselves and gave up on it after ten minutes thinking it was good enough. She reached out without thinking, but stopped as the drone flinched away from her touch. She couldn’t help feeling bad for the poor thing. Who would do this to another living creature? How cruel did you have to be to cause so much pain to someone, even if it was ‘just a drone’? Tessa’s empathy and sadness for the drone mixed with anger at whoever had thrown them away so carelessly. What had they even done to deserve such a fate? What action could possibly warrant being cut open and thrown away like nothing more than a broken tool? She tore her eyes away from the wounds, and once again made eye contact with the drone themselves.
Once again, Tessa realised she had no idea where to go from here. This drone clearly needed help. Even if the disassembly job was shoddy at best, it was clearly causing them pain. Tessa could still see the oil stains around the wounds. But on the other hand, Tessa had only ever worked on minor injuries for drones. Something like this... What if the wires were damaged? Even worse, what if the core's casing was punctured somewhere? She couldn't fix that! Not to mention what her parents would think about her bringing in a drone from the scrapyard. She didn't even want to think about the kind of punishment she'd get for that.
She sighed, looking back up at the drone's visor. They met her gaze and gave her a soft smile, looking up at her with gratitude clear in their expression. Could Tessa really just leave them here? They'd surely die before the week was over if she left them alone. She couldn't rely on being able to come back to see them regularly either. Wouldn’t that make her just as bad as the person that had discarded them in the first place?
The drone carefully reached up and rested their left hand on her arm, like they could see her indecisiveness and were trying to comfort her. They were so... warm. Tessa had always thought drones would've been cold to the touch, but this one had a pleasant warmth, almost like a human's. But unlike any humans she knew, they were gentle with her. Not trying to pull her around or squeeze her too tightly or bruise her, just resting. It was... nice. Better than nice. Just the gentleness of the touch almost felt loving, even though she had only just met this drone. When was the last time someone had been so gentle with her…?
She couldn't leave them here. Tessa knew that now. Something about this drone felt different from the workers she saw around the manor. Tessa had survived her parent’s punishments many times before. Surely saving a life was worth being locked up for a day or two. She sighed and pulled the drone’s hand gently off of her arm.
"Alrighty then. Now that all that's over with, whadda ya say we get you home so I can fix you up?" The drone looked almost surprised that she was even offering, but nodded anyway. It was only then that Tessa noticed the faded yellow armband around their left arm. Most of the words were covered in too much dirt and oil to really make out, but she could see the beginning of a serial designation code. Serial designation J-10X... something. She could figure that out later. "You got a name?" The drone shook their head. "Alright. Well, just calling you a drone all the time seems a bit bland and might get a bit confusin... So how about J? Like your serial designation code! That sound alright to you?" The drone- J, now, nodded eagerly.
"Should probably introduce myself too," she said. "I'm Tessa. Tessa James Elliott is how I'm supposed to introduce myself to guests, but that's kinda a pain to say. So, just Tessa. Now, I don't suppose you can walk by yourself?"
J immediately went to stand up, only to have their legs buckle underneath them and very nearly go falling right back down again. Tessa shot up, once again catching them just in time. "Oookay, let's not try that again. Wouldn't want you gettin hurt." J looked almost ashamed at this, like it was some kind of failure on their part that they were in too much pain to stand, despite the fact that they were literally clutching at their stomach trying to stop their bleeding. "Hey, it's fine bud! We can just..."
As Tessa trailed off she went to scoop the worker up into her arms, her arms hooked under their limbs in a sort of bridal style carry. J made a noise that sounded like it was supposed to be a yelp or a squeak of some kind, but it came out more as a staticky crackling sound. Tessa staggered a little bit under the drone's weight, but quickly rebalanced and adjusted her stance. "There we go! You don't mind bein' carried, do ya?"
J remained tense, but gave a little shake of their head to show they were fine. "Good. Now, let's head back to the manor!" She began walking once again, this time with the drone cradled in her arms. Every so often, she'd stumble a bit and J would wince at the jostling. She tried her best to stay steady, but it was a long walk back and the rain didn't look like it'd be letting up any time soon. Again, Tessa realised just how warm the drone was. Especially when J finally started to relax as they left the scrapyard and shuffled in closer to her. They wrapped one arm around her for support, pulling themselves in closer to the girl like they were trying to soak up her warmth. It was comforting, in a way. To have someone so close to her. Even if it was 'just a drone', the friendly presence was nice.
About a minute away from the manor, Tessa heard a crackling noise. Worried that she had accidentally hurt the drone, she glanced down, going to ask if they were alright. Before she could, J interrupted her. "I-I’m sorry," was all they said. J's voice was staticky and glitching but still understandable, surprisingly. They winced slightly at the grating edge in their voice, and looked away from Tessa in embarrassment.
“For what? Ya got nothin to apologise for,” Tessa responded.
“F-for staining your dress.” Tessa glanced down at her dress. There was a patch of fresh oil on her where the drone’s upper body was resting against her, and a decently sized one at that. She really didn’t mind though. With all the times Tessa had done basic maintenance on workers from the manor, she had dealt with plenty of oil-stained clothes, enough to know exactly how to get them out effectively. To be honest, she was more concerned that the drone was trying to apologize for bleeding on her, as if it was something they were supposed to be able to control.
"Oh, that? It’s fine, really. Don't strain yourself. Just rest for a bit, okay?" J hesitantly nodded and let their head rest against her again.
For a long moment, the only sounds were the rain and the crows in the distance. Tessa adjusted her arms to let J rest more comfortably and get closer to her. The drone huddled against her was her only source of warmth as the ice-cold rain soaked through Tessa's dress. She could feel the rise and fall of their chest against her, and even though she knew it was just something the engineers put in to make the drones feel less uncanny and more lifelike, she found the movement almost comforting in a strange way. They gave off a quiet electronic buzzing sound that she hadn’t really noticed with any other drones, probably due to their injuries or something malfunctioning inside them. It kind of faded into the background noise. At least they seemed calmer now that they were out of the scrapyard. Tessa allowed her thoughts to wander a bit as she drew closer to the manor, quietly humming to herself.
"...Y-you're very pretty, by the way."
Tessa’s train of thought quickly came to a halt as she stopped in her tracks, looking down at the drone with wide eyes. J looked back at her, frowning and tilting their head slightly at Tessa's reaction.
...She had never been called pretty before. Really, it was more often insults that she got from her parents. And now this drone that she had just met five minutes ago was complimenting her.
“I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong, ma’am?” J asked quietly.
“No! No, not at all.” Tessa kept walking and tore her gaze away from the drone's. “I was just… a bit caught off guard. Didn’t really expect you to say something like that. And please, don’t call me ma’am. Sounds way too formal for me.”
“Of course. If that’s w-what you want-t.” J’s voice glitched momentarily before they cleared their throat and continued. “I’m sorry for upsetting you.”
“I’m not upset, J. It’s fine. You really don’t have to be so professional with me.”
“Apologies ma’- sorry- Mrs. Elliott. It’s the way I was programmed to speak.”
“Ok, uh. no. Mrs. Elliott is even worse. I’m not mad at you,” she added as J went to apologise again. “Just- please don’t call me that either.” J was quiet for a moment.
“What would you like to be called, then?” “Just Tessa is fine.”
“Noted. I’m sorry if I upset you, Tessa.”
Tessa sighed. “Ya didn’t upset me, J. You’re doin just fine. I promise.”
Thankfully, J didn’t say anything in response this time. The silence returned again, but this time, Tessa couldn’t seem to let her mind wander like she had before. She had to ask.
“Hey, J?”
J looked up at her again, which Tessa took as a signal to keep talking.
“When you said you thought I was pretty… were you lying at all?”
J gave a small smile. “Absolutely not. I would never lie about something like that.”
Tessa couldn’t help the way her heart fluttered a bit at that. Only because she couldn’t remember the last time someone had given her a genuine compliment, of course. It had nothing to do with the softness of the drone’s voice, or the way they smiled at her with so much adoration clear in their eyes like they were looking at a work of art, or the way they practically melted back into her touch. Absolutely not. Sure, she was aware of all those things, but it definitely wasn’t the reason she felt so flustered.
“...You really mean it?”
J rested her head back against Tessa’s chest. “Of course. You’re beautiful, Tessa. The most beautiful person I've ever seen.”
They were pretty much at the manor now. Tessa slipped through a side gate meant for the gardeners to be able to come in early in the morning without waking anyone else up, and made a beeline for the old work shed at the very edge of the garden, nestled right behind a slightly overgrown oak tree that hid the rusty metal shelter almost entirely from view.
Still, even with the shadow of the manor looming over her, Tessa couldn’t help but smile to herself. Maybe living here wasn’t so bad after all.